- Joined
- Jul 1, 2025
But more than that, more than anything perhaps, is American willingness to actually fucking pay for things. Personal computing got jumpstarted here because a few hundred thousand Americans were willing to blow the equivalent money to a new car on a bleepy 8-bit box just because it seemed neat and might be able to do a few useful things.
Yes, its called "innovation" and is a hallmark of American exceptionalism (don't let Berkley militant feminist distort the actual definition of American exceptionalism like they're been trying to do--its meant as an aspirational goal not a proclamation that America had everything perfect and right.)
I agree it seems crazy spending such money on early computers but many of those people who invested in one went on to make money working with them (in everything from CS to accounting to just being the office "computer guru.") Nothing wrong with that.
And it isn't a new phenomena. Henry Ford built a very simple one-cylinder engine dubbed the "kitchen engine" as a first step into getting into automobile manufacturing. His contemporaries could've easily criticized him as wasting money and time on a silly toy but we know it obvious led to him fulfilling his own chosen destiny. American history is filled with similar stories.
This is one of the critical aspects of American culture. Also why lots of retard nations say America has no culture (they can't see the nuanced elements that make up our culture compared to their retarded ancient costumes like throwing cow shit at each other for fun or eating shark fin to cure their arthritis.